Melee

Klingons in Melee combat with Bat'leths

Melee is combat while unarmed or using a melee weapon such as a Bat'leth or Lirpa (as opposed to a ranged weapon).

Overview

Melee Combat damage bypasses 80% of a target's shields allowing direct damage to their Hit points, making melee ideal for engaging heavily shielded targets. Additionally the majority of melee attacks have a 10% chance to Expose the target, while the finishers are Exploit attacks. This allows the melee oriented player the opportunity to do a surprising amount of damage as well as set up their traditional weapon based teammates for exploit attacks.

These advantages do come with their own corresponding disadvantages however; in both PvP and PvE, melee oriented players are strongly susceptible to roots, holds, stuns, knockbacks and leave themselves vulnerable to flanking. Care must be taken to avoid the pitfalls of melee play or you risk becoming a detriment to your team.

Combos

Melee combat is based off of a 3 strike 'combo' system; Your first strike is the weakest, this is followed by a stronger secondary attack, which is in turn followed by a Finisher. The type of attack as well as the animation are based off of the combination you choose. The attacks are default bound to the 1 and 2 keys, this gives you combo's such as 112, 122, 221, 212 etc.

In addition to the combo attacks you may also use 'Palm Strike' or 'Bat'leth Cross Strike' to knockback the target, decrease your threat, and potentially stun them. These secondary attacks are by default bound to the 3 key.

See the pages for each weapon for details on their combos.

Weapons

Damage	Physical-only						Disruptor	Plasma		Toxic	Bleeding		Fire	Psionic	Snow
Bat'leth
Lirpa / Polearm
Sword / Mek'leth
Fist
Notes	Except for Snow, damage types such as plasma are in addition to normal physical damage.
	Jaylah's Staff and Nanopulse Staff-Rifle are described as combination rifle-melee weapons; their palm strike slots have been replaced by powerful polearm combination attacks.

Traits

The following traits aid melee combat (not exhaustive).

	Trait	Effect	Source
	Berserker	+5% Bonus All Damage per foe within 5m.	[Infinity Prize Pack: Personal Trait (Ground)]
	Bite	A melee attack	Free
	Brawler	Increased Melee Damage Resistance when damaging a foe with a Melee Attack. Increased Melee Damage when damaged by a foe's Melee Attack.	[Infinity Prize Pack: Personal Trait (Ground)]
	Close Quarters Combatant	+12.5% All Melee Damage (+15.5% at Rank II) +3% Run Speed (+3.8% at Rank II)	Reputation: Terran Task Force
	Engineered Soldier	+7.5% Damage with Melee Attacks +7.5% Damage with Ranged Weapons +7.5% Critical Severity +4.5% Critical Chance	Free (Jem'Hadar only)
	Neural Network Overload	5% chance for energy weapons and 33% chance for melee weapons, for 10 sec: 20.7 Electrical Damage (80% Shield Penetration) Per Sec (25.9 at Rank II) -50% Run Speed (-55.6% at Rank II)	Reputation: Terran Task Force
	Omega Weapon Proficiency	+5% Bonus All Energy Weapon Damage (+6.3% at Rank II) +10% Bonus All Melee Damage (+12.5% at Rank II)	Reputation: Task Force Omega
	Physical Strength Reptilian Strength	Enhances powers tagged as Melee Damagee +15% Physical Damage +15% chance: to target: Knocks back +0.66 meterse	Free
	Pounce	Lunge and melee strike	Free (Caitian and Ferasan only)
	Tyler's Memories	to self: +0-8% (+0-10% at Rank II) Bonus Weapon Damage, based on Distance to Target Maximum bonus when at less than 9.15m, no effect beyond 33.5m	Reputation: Discovery Legends
	Warrior's Blood	Melee Kills grant a stacking bonus to Critical Chance up to 2.5%, and a 5% bonus to Critical Severity while the bonus is maximized (5% and 10% for Improved Trait). Stacks fall off after 60 seconds.	Klingon Recruitment

In addition to these, some species have innate traits that provide an advantage in melee combat, including;

	Race	Relevant trait bonus	Faction
	Ferasan	+5% Damage with Melee Attacks	Klingon Defense Force
	Gorn	17.5% bonus to Melee Damage 15% chance to knock down the target of your melee attacks	Klingon Defense Force
	Klingon	+15% Physical Damage	Klingon Defense Force, Starfleet
	Nausicaan	0.15 bonus to Melee damage 15% chance to knock down the target of your melee attacks.	Klingon Defense Force
	Romulan	+10% Physical Damage Bonus Chance to knock down foes when using Melee attacks	Romulan Republic
	Vulcan	0.15 bonus to Melee damage 15% chance to knock down the target of your melee attacks	Starfleet (all variants)

Skill

	Skill	Effect	Source
	Furious Footwork	Attacking with Melee grants you +20% Run Speed for 5sec. This effect is refreshed by each subsequent attack, instead of stacking.	Ground skills
	Fatal Fists	Attacking with Melee inflicts a debuff of -20 Damage Resistance Rating on any foe hit by your melee attack, which lasts for 5sec. This effect is refreshed by each subsequent attack, instead of stacking.	Ground skills
	Punch It!	After Sprinting: * +50% Bonus Melee Physical Damage * +100 Control Resistance Rating for 3 sec	Miracle Worker (specialization)
	Follow-Through	While sprinting, all melee attacks are increased in effectiveness. This effect lingers for a few seconds after you have finished sprinting. You must be moving to gain this benefit. While Sprinting, gain +25% Bonus Melee Damage (lingers for 3sec after Sprinting)	Commando (specialization)
	Juggernaut System	The Juggernaut System is a subdermal layer of nanobots that integrate armor subsystems with your body's natural biological processes, allowing your protective gear to act as an extension of your own body. At its most basic settings, the Juggernaut System gets its name from the kinetic enhancements it grants, giving all wearers the ability to easily knock back nearby opponents simply by rushing into them. Knockback Foes within Melee Range while Sprinting (vs. Players, has a 50% chance to only Repel instead of Knocking) Foes affected by this ability may not be affected again by it for 12 sec	Commando (specialization)

Duty officers

The following duty officers provide melee bonuses when slotted.

	Doff	Effect	Source
	Stresoups	All Melee Attacks (including Rifle Butts, etc) have an additional 8% chance to inflict a Critical Hit. Also increases melee Crit Severity by 25%. +8% Crit Chance when using Melee Attacks +25% Crit Severity when using Melee Attacks	[Krenim Temporal Specialist (Duty Officer)]
	Lemou	All Melee Attacks (including Rifle Butts, etc) have an additional 8% chance to inflict a Critical Hit. Also increases melee Crit Severity by 25%. +8% Crit Chance when using Melee Attacks +25% Crit Severity when using Melee Attacks	[Krenim Temporal Specialist (Duty Officer)]
	Sterling Renard	All Melee Attacks (including Rifle Butts, etc) have an additional 8% chance to inflict a Critical Hit. Also increases melee Crit Severity by 25%. +8% Crit Chance when using Melee Attacks +25% Crit Severity when using Melee Attacks	[Temporal Beacon Storage Device]
	Tosk	On use of any melee attack, provides a 15% chance to knock back the target. 15% chance: Knocks back +1 fee	[Gamma Quadrant Duty Officer Cadre]
	Dae Maron	On use of any melee attack, provides a 15% chance to knock back the target. 15% chance: Knocks back +1 fee	[Gamma Quadrant Duty Officer Cadre]
	Najiin	On use of any melee attack, provides a 15% chance to knock back the target. 15% chance: Knocks back +1 fee	“Rare Duty Officer Reassignment”
	Dahar Master Korloth	On use of any melee attack, provides a 15% chance to knock back the target. 15% chance: Knocks back +1 fee	“Rare Duty Officer Reassignment”

Unarmed

It is possible to engage in combat without a weapon. Without a weapon slotted, a player can use basic jabs and punches. Damage however, is limited. In addition there are abilities such as the Vulcan nerve pinch or a Gorn bite. It is also possible to use the stock of your ranged weapon to attack enemies who come into close range, or strike with unarmed attacks like palm strikes while equipped with a pistol.

The first style of melee combat is Martial Arts (Unarmed). This is activated by using a weapon slot with no weapon in it giving you access to your Martial Arts attacks. Martial Arts attacks are typically faster and harder to interrupt then their Bat'leth counterparts as well as having additional debuff affects but do less damage per strike.

Combination	Attack	Effect		Combination	Attack	Effect
Left	Jab (Expose)	10% Chance to Expose		Right	Punch (Expose)	60% chance: -66% run speed for 3 sec 10% Chance to Expose
Left Left	Chin Strike (Expose)	60% chance: Root for 3 sec 10% chance to Expose		Right Right	Backhand (Expose)	60% chance: Root for 3 sec 10% chance to Expose
Left Right	Punch (Expose)	60% chance: -66% run speed for 3 sec 10% Chance to Expose		Right Left	Uppercut (Expose)	10% Chance to Expose
Left Left Right	Haymaker (Exploit)	+100% Critical Chance Exposed targets take 205% damage		Right Left Right	Snap Kick (Expose)	60% chance: Disable for 2 sec 10% chance to Expose 10% chance to Expose
Left Right Left	Combined Fist (Expose)	Hits 3 targets 60% chance: Knocks back +1 meters 10% chance to Expose		Right Right Left	Spin Kick (Exploit)	Hits 3 targets Exposed targets take 205% damage
Left Right Right	Spin Kick (Exploit)	Hits 3 targets Exposed targets take 205% damage		Right Left Left	Knife Hand Chop (Exploit)	60% chance: __ Physical Damage every 1 sec for 5.5 sec Exposed targets take 205% damage

Note: Combo information is incomplete due to testing limitations.